Cover Lessons
Cover lesson ideas linking to the DCF, for a range of subjects, both offline and digital.
Online Identity and Employment
DCF: Citizenship → Identity, image and reputation
Pupils act as the manager filling one Saturday job, scoring three invented applicants' public profiles against what an employer may lawfully consider under the Equality Act 2010. They then write a five-step plan for their own digital footprint. Nobody searches for a real person at any point.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Online Identity and Employment
- Stimulus: the vacancy and three invented applicant profiles
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Digital Ethics Debate
DCF: Citizenship → Online behaviour and online bullying
Pupils are assigned a side of the motion that anonymous accounts should not be allowed on social media, build a case using one ethical approach and one religious or humanist teaching, and deliver a two-minute speech. The assessed piece is the closing reflection, where they state what they actually think.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Digital Ethics Debate
- Stimulus: three viewpoints on anonymous accounts, plus an ethics toolkit
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
Binary Code Bracelets
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling
Using a five-bit code where a dark bead is a 1 and the place values are 16, 8, 4, 2 and 1, pupils convert letters to binary and back, decode a mystery bracelet, then design and colour their own bracelet for a five-letter Welsh word and have a partner decode it.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Binary Code Bracelets
- One dark and one light coloured pencil per pupil
- Beads in two colours and elastic thread, if you want pupils to thread a real bracelet
Tools required
- Pen and paper
- Coloured pencils
Software / weblinks
Unplugged Algorithms: Sorting Networks
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Problem-solving and modelling
Pupils trace six numbers through a twelve-comparator sorting network, recording every wire after each of the five steps, then try to break the algorithm with reversed, already-sorted and repeated inputs. They finish by designing and testing a three-wire network of their own.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Unplugged Algorithms: Sorting Networks
- Stimulus: the six-wire sorting network grid and number cards
- Scissors, to cut the six number cards from the stimulus sheet
- Chalk or masking tape, if you want to lay the network out on the floor
Tools required
- Paper, cards
Software / weblinks
Collaborative Story Writing
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Collaboration
Groups of four write one story together in a timed relay, each pupil building on the part before rather than starting again. They hand in the finished story plus a handover log recording what each writer added and what they left for the next.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Collaborative Story Writing
- Stimulus: four story starters and handover rules
- One shared document per group, or one sheet of lined paper if there are no computers
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
- Microsoft Word Online or Google Docs
- BBC Bitesize - KS3 English
- National Literacy Trust
Cloud Storage Organisation
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Storing and sharing
Pupils redesign a genuinely chaotic shared class folder left over from river fieldwork on the Afon Teifi, producing a folder tree, a file-naming rule, a keep, rename, archive or delete decision for each file, and three sharing rules. Pen and paper throughout.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Cloud Storage Organisation
- Stimulus: messy shared area printout, 7B Geography rivers fieldwork
- Coloured pencils for the folder tree (optional)
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
- Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive, through Hwb
- The National Archives - managing digital information over time
- ICO - data sharing guidance
Sharing Files Securely
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Storing and sharing
Pupils decide the correct permission level and link scope for six real school situations, using the actual Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace options, then diagnose and repair an unsafe share. Everything stays inside the school account.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Sharing Files Securely
- Worked example and answer key: the six scenarios settled
- Highlighters (one per pupil)
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
- Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive (school account)
- Microsoft — share OneDrive files and folders, and what each link scope means
- Google — share files from Google Drive, with the Viewer, Commenter and Editor table
- Google — change or stop sharing permissions
- ICO — advice for the public on your information rights
Translating Digital Interfaces
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Communication
Pupils build a four-language glossary of twelve common interface commands in French, Spanish and Welsh, then localise a school library app screen into one of them. Every button label must fit a 16-character limit, so they also record what they shortened and why.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Translating Digital Interfaces
- Stimulus: interface icons and four-language word bank
- Coloured pencils for the screen layout
Tools required
- Pen and paper
Software / weblinks
Fitness Data Tracking
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
Pupils compare a whole class of 24 anonymised fitness test results: mean, minimum, maximum and range for three tests, a banded tally, a bar chart, and a written conclusion that separates what the data shows from what it cannot show. No exercise is done in the lesson.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Fitness Data Tracking
- Stimulus data: class fitness results for 24 pupils (CSV)
- Worked example and answer key: averages, tally and bar chart
- Ruler and pencil for the bar chart
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
- Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets (optional — the sheet works on paper)
- NHS — physical activity guidelines for children and young people
- Office for National Statistics — for comparing your class with national data
- Hwb — Welsh Government digital learning platform
Database Queries for Planets
DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy
Pupils treat NASA planet data as a database, answering six sort, filter and search queries and calculating the total, mean and median number of moons. They finish by explaining why a mean of 52 moons describes no planet in the Solar System.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Database Queries for Planets
- Stimulus dataset: solar system data (CSV)
- Calculator, one per pupil
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
- Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets or Microsoft Access
- NASA Science - planets of the Solar System
- NASA Planetary Fact Sheet - the source of every figure in the dataset
Peer Reviewing Presentations
DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content
Pupils review a printed six-slide presentation about the Solar System, completing a slide-by-slide feedback grid that pins down three factual errors as well as the design problems. They then redraft one slide correctly, with a source line.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Peer Reviewing Presentations
- Stimulus: presentation to review, Our Solar System
- A second colour of pen for the partner check
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
- Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides
- NASA Science - planets of the Solar System
- NASA Science - relative sizes of the planets
Bilingual Glossary Creation
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Collaboration
Mewn parau, mae disgyblion yn llunio un eirfa ddwyieithog o ddeuddeg term TG, gyda rhyw pob enw, ystyr yn Gymraeg a brawddeg gyflawn, ac yna'n ymarfer treiglo ar ôl y, fy a dy. Pairs build one bilingual IT glossary and must agree every entry.
Resources required
- Taflen waith / Pupil worksheet: Geirfa ddwyieithog TG
- Enghraifft a'r atebion / Worked example and full answer key, including the mutation exercise
- Pupils work in pairs — one glossary per pair, both names on it
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
Welsh Tourism Leaflet
DCF: Producing → Creating digital content
Mae disgyblion yn cynllunio taflen dwristiaeth tri phanel yn Gymraeg am Gastell Caerffili, gan ddefnyddio ffeithiau Cadw: 1268, Gilbert de Clare, y castell mwyaf yng Nghymru, 30 erw o amddiffynfeydd dŵr a'r tŵr cam. Pupils plan a three-panel Welsh leaflet on one folded sheet of A4.
Resources required
- Taflen waith / Pupil worksheet: Taflen dwristiaeth Castell Caerffili
- Enghraifft / Worked example: the finished leaflet drawn as folded, with a full English translation
- One sheet of plain A4 per pupil for the folded leaflet
- Coloured pencils or felt tips
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
File Formats and Quality
DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Storing and sharing
Using real export sizes for one photograph and one logo, pupils build a fact table for JPEG, PNG, GIF, SVG and WebP, then choose and justify a format for five real jobs. They finish by working out how many of each file fit in a 25 MB email.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: File Formats and Quality
- Stimulus: one image, exported five ways
- Calculator (or mental arithmetic) for the email sums
Tools required
- Computer/Laptop
Software / weblinks
- The school's image editor - GIMP, Paint.NET or Photos
- MDN - image file type and format guide
- W3C - Scalable Vector Graphics
Wireframing a Mobile App
DCF: Producing → Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Working from a client brief written by the school council, pupils plan a school clubs app: audience and purpose, then a content plan naming where every piece of information comes from, then three wireframes drawn as grey-box plans with numbered notes and a navigation map.
Resources required
- Pupil worksheet: Wireframing a Mobile App
- Pencils, erasers and rulers - a wireframe should be easy to rub out
Tools required
- Pen and paper